Garage door operating mechanism



Oct. 26, 1937. H. BARLOW GARAGE DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM Filed Oct. 19, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet l g'wmm Harry Barlow Oct. 26, 1937. H. BARLOW GARAGE DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 19, 1935 7 a M B nHm .D 2 a H Fig. 3

Patented Oct. 26, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GARAGE noon OPERATING MECHANISM Harry Barlow, Port Madison, Wash. Application October 19, 1935, Serial No.45,747

1 Claim. r01. ass-s3) My invention relates to mechanism for opening and closing doors. Perhaps its largest field of usefulness lies in swinging double garage doors open and shut by power means, but in its broader aspects the invention is not confined to the operation of garage doors, nor necessarily to the use of swinging doors, nor essentially to the use of power means to operate such doors. However, the principles of my invention and the scope thereof will be better understood as this specification progresses, and may be ascertained from a study of the specification, the drawings accompanying it, and the claim at the end of the specification.

One of the objects of my invention is to pro: vide means for operating the doors of a garage between open and closed position, or controlling such operation, with which means there is associated an electrical device not inherently connected to an electrical power source, but capable of being connected, through a connector affixed to the automobile which is authorized to enter the garage, to the battery of this automobileor other electrical power source thereon, thus to supply, current to the electrical device so that it may initiate the operation of the power means or control the opening of the doors. It is also an object to provide like means for controlling closing of the doors, all to the end that the operation of the doors may only occur when an automobile thus equipped arrives outside the garage, and so that it is convenient for the occupant of such an automobile to operate the doors, but impossible for anyone in an automobile not thus equipped so to operate the doors.

It is a further object in connection with door operating means as described above, to provide manually operable means, one inside the garage and capable of opening the doors, and one outside and capable of closing the doors, but so connected that neither is capable of operating the doors reversely, so that after departure of the automobile the doors can be closed from the outside of the garage, but cannot again be opened until the arrival of the automobile thus equipped, and vice versa, to enable the opening of the doors from inside the garage without the necessity of the presence of the properly equipped automobile, but preventing closing of the doors from the inside of the garage.

It is a further object to provide door swinging mechanism which may be so disposed in the garage that it is substantially entirely outside of the margins of the entrance, afiording free access through the entrance, and which is connected from side to side only by a single link or like member extending overhead, to the end that the overhead mechanism is eliminated so far as possible, and there is nothing to drip oil or grease down upon the car or a person within the garage. v

It is a further object to provide garage door swinging mechanism which will swing the doors into wide open position, and which in such position will lie snugly against the doors, to the end of affording. the greatest possible freedom of ingress and egress.

A further object is to provide door swinging mechanism of the general character indicated above, which will engage the swinging doors and their inside lower swinging corner, which is the 5 point where such doors will frequently stick, to i the end that the power toopen the doors may be most efficiently applied, and the doors swung with the least racking.

, These and other objectswill appear as this specification progresses.

My invention comprises the novel doc-r operating or controlling mechanism, and the novel control therefor, as shown in the accompanying drawings, described in this specification, and more particularlypointed out by the claim which terminates the same.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown my invention embodied in illustrative forms, though not necessarily the forms which I prefer to employ commercially, but adapted for the purpose of best illustrating the principles of my invention.

Figure 1 is an elevational View, showing the manner of controllingopening of the doors from outside the garage and from an authorized and properly equipped car.

Figure 2 is a transverse horizontal section through the garage and doors, taken at about the plate level, and illustrating the door operating mechanism and conventionally the electrical controls therefor.

Figure 3 is an elevation or section substantially on the line 33 of Figure 2, illustrating the door operating mechanism at one side of the entrance.

V Figure 4 is an elevation, with parts broken away, of the external door control mechanism, and Figure 5 is a plan view, with parts broken away, illustrating the same.

Figure 6 is an elevation and partial section of an authorized key for mounting upon an automobile, and Figure '7 is an end view of the same with'the protective cap removed.

As indicated above, it is part of my invention to provide outside of the garage a device in the nature of a stand or post l0, carrying a head within which are sets or pairs of terminals 2| and 22, respectively, or at least one such set of terminals, connected to mechanism within the garage to effect or control opening of the doors, and if two sets of mrminals are employed, to control also the closing of the doors. These terminals 2| and 22 may take the form of jacks, or.

they may take the form of plugs, but a cooperating element, for example a plug 3 carrying the terminals 3|, is aiiixed to the car, preferably by a flexible cable or wire 30, by which means it may be connected to the 'car battery 32, the two terminals 3| being connected to the opposite terminals oi the battery. The circuits which include the terminals 2| and 22, respectively, .are normally devoid of any electrical power source, so

that they can only be closed by plugging in the terminals 3|, whereupon, the circuit including these terminals 2| or 22 is placed in connection with an electrical power source which is the battery 32, and when so connected the circuits including these terminals 2| or 22 become energized, and this energization may be employed to initiate the operation of power means, or in some plug 3, which will open the doors when the automobile has approached the garage preparatory to entering. Thus the doors may be causedto open through the instrumentality of electric current supplied from the car battery, and in this connection it may be pointed out that the plug terminals 3| may be variously'contoured, or may be formed as key elements, so that only one such plug will operate a given pair of terminals 2| or 22. It is preferable that a second similar circuit be employed so that when the car has been driven' out of the garage the doors may be caused to swing shut by the employment of the plug 3. This, however, is not essential, but the arrangement shown permits operationin this manner.

In addition it will usually be desirable to ,provide external means, such as an ordinary switch or push-button, which, when the doors are left open, may be operatedtoefiect closing of the doors. Sincethis device is outside the garage, and can only be operated from outside the garage to close the doors, it is unlikely that a child will operate this device and then reenter the garage and be caught inside. However, topermit'anyone caught inside the garage with the doors closed to emerge, or to permit the driver who'wishes to drive out to' open the doors before entering the car, it is desirable also to provide means, such as a simple switch or push-button, and placed inside the garage, whereby the doors may be swung open. For installations where the garage is entered directly from the dwelling it may be desirable to provide similar means inside the garage whereby the doors may be swung'shut. r

V The arrangement which'I have illustrated permits these operations to be effected, and the control mechanism will shortly be described in detail, but first I'shall describe the door swinging mechanism.

aooasse link 53. The connection to the door is at the 7 inside lower swinging corner, since this corner most usually is the one which sticks, due to sagging of the door or the hinges, hence the outward pressure to swing the doors open is concentrated at or nearthe point where the door tends to stick. These elements 5|, 52 and 53 are of such total length in the position they occupy when, by rotation of the shaft the door is swung open, that the links 52 and 53 lie snugly against theinside of the door, and hold the door outwardly swung substantially in a plane normal to the entrance, as may be seen by the dot and dash lines in Figure 2. For conjoint swinging of the two doors each shaft is provided with an arm 54 at its upper end, which arms are connected across by a cross link 55 which extends well above the top of an automobile passing through the entrance, and.

which by its inherent character requires no lubricant, and consequently there is nothing to drip from above. To accomplish swingingof the doors there is mounted upon the shaft '5, preferably adjacent its lower end, a third arm, 56, which is connected by a link 51 or other suitable means to a nut 58 threaded upon a screw 69 which is connected for rotation' with a reversible: motor 6. The latter mechanism is preferably supported on or near the floor of the garage, and preferably entirely shielded at one side of the entrance of the garage, so that it is notin'the way ofjan automobile entering or leaving and so that it is accessible and cannotdrip grease or oil upon the car or a person beneath, as it might were it elevated. I Y

As mentioned above; the electrical controls may be varied in arrangement, and will necessarily be varied to'suit varying conditions. As herein shown the terminals 2| are connected through leads 23 to a relay 26, which maybe a simple electromagnet or a self-holding relay, and the terminals 22 are connected'through similar leads 24 to a similar relay 25. The lines 23 and 24 arecnot connected with any electrical power source, such electrical current being supplied solely from the battery of the automobile, m nemanner heretofore described. When so connected in one such circuit or the other the corresponding relay is energized, and effects opera tion of a reversing switch 60. nected between the power mains, indicated at 6|,

and the reversing circuits of' the :motor, as is seen diagrammaticallyinFigure '2, so that upon energization of the relay 26 the motor is' operated in a direction to open the doors, and upon energization' of the relay 25'the motor'is opthat circuit to themotor 6 which causes it to turn in a direction to close the doors. The circuit breaker 28, however, is spring-held closed at such a time so that upon reversal of the switch This may be conthe motor can be started in a direction to open the doors, but so long as the circuit breaker switch 2'! remains open the motor cannot be 0perated further in a direction to close the doors. The reverse is also true, as will be understood from the diagram of Figure 2.

In order that the doors may be operated without the presence of. the car and its key, I may provide an opening switch or push-button H, which may well be in a normal Volt circuit, connected through a transformer 13 to a circuit 15 in shunt across the circuit 23. Such a switch 1| may be located inside the garage, and when closed energizes the relay 26 to open the doors. A similar switch 12 may be located outside or inside the garage, connected in the 110 volt mains, and connected through a transformer 14 to a shunt circuit 76 connected in the circuit 24, so that upon closure of the switch 12 the relay 25 will be energized to efiect closing of the doors.

It is preferred that the plug 3 be provided with means such as the lamp 33 mounted in its base 34 and controlled by a switch 35, so that the plug terminals 3| may be illuminated at night, and

the proper jack terminals 2| or 22 may be discovered. It is also preferred that a protective cap 36 be securable over the exposed terminals 3| so that they may not be accidentally contacted while the plug 3 is in the car. These, however, are mere details, and are more properly conveniences than essential to my invention.

What I claim as my invention is:

In combination with garage door operating mechanism, means to effect operation of said mechanism, including an electric circuit tenninating in two jacks, and devoid of an electric power source, means supporting said jacks in an elevated position alongside the garage driveway, and a flexible conductor carried by an automobile, within reach of the driver, and terminating in two plugs electrically connected to the opposite terminals of the automobiles battery, and adapted for manual insertion by the automobile driver in the respective jacks, to supply electric current to said circuit to efiect operation of the door operating mechanism.

HARRY BARLOW. 

